| A new class of liquid crystal/polymer network composite with very small amounts of polymer network (3 Wt%) is described. These composites are formed by photopolymerization of the monomers in-situ from a solution of monomer dissolved in low-molar-mass liquid crystals. This thesis describes polymer network structure and its influence on electro-optic behavior of liquid crystals. Structural formation in these composites begins with the phase separation of polymer micronetworks, which aggregate initially by reaction-limited, and then by diffusion-limited modes. The morphology can be advantageously manipulated by controlling: the crossover condition between such modes, the order of the monomer solution prior to photopolymerization, and the molecular structure of monomers or comonomers. Several morphologies have been observed and in particular, morphology consisting of a network of beads, fiber-like and plate-like network are described in detail. |
